


pulling down stars (just to make you glow)

by Anonymous



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, I haven't even finished the game yet, Inappropriate crushes, no beta we die like men, self-indulgent nonsense, stupid fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:07:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: At first, Leon's just glad his brother has a friend like Gloria. Then he has the unfortunate realization that he's started to feel a little differently about Gloria.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Yuuri | Gloria, background Nessa/Sonia
Comments: 60
Kudos: 846
Collections: Anonymous





	1. shallow edges of the sun

**Author's Note:**

> Like the tags say, this is just such self-indulgent trash. Don't even @ me. 
> 
> Tagged underage just in case. Fiddled with the characters' ages a bit here, but there's still quite a gap; I just made the executive decision that Hop and Gloria are 15 and Leon is 20.

“Oh man, I was on the edge of my seat! What a match! I can’t believe it—”

Leon loved his little brother, and he was always happy to talk to Hop, but he really had to remind himself of those facts when Hop was entering his thirteenth minute straight of excited blow by blow of Leon’s latest match with Raihan—the one that Leon had lived through. 

“—I was gutted, thought you were a goner for sure, but Gloria was right—she knew you were gonna use that combo, she totally called it, and you did, and wow was it cool! I’m totally going to have to study those moves so I can pull that off when I do the gym challenge on my own, and—” 

So maybe that was why the new name caught Leon’s ear—it was something different to talk about, something to latch on to.

“Gloria, huh? Is that the new neighbor?” 

“Right! You haven’t met her yet. Yeah, she and her mum moved into that little house just down the lane, and she’s great. She loves Pokemon, just like me, she almost didn’t believe me when I told her you were my brother.” 

“Wow, sounds like you’ve got yourself a good friend, then.”

“She’s great! We went into town the other day and—”

And, at least for a while, Leon let himself sit back and listen to his little brother expound on all of his new friend’s good qualities, feeling quite happy his brother had made a friend and not thinking about this new girl any further.

*

Then he was getting ready to come home again, and he was bringing Hop back a Pokemon, something cute and rare that he knew Hop would love, and he remembered Gloria, and he decided that she was getting a Pokemon too. From what Hop said, the girl loved Pokemon and would be good with one, and besides that, his brother wouldn’t be friends with anyone who wouldn’t treat a Pokemon right, and Hop was in a magnanimous mood. He’d just beaten Raihan (again), he was the unbeatable champion, and he wanted to do something nice for his and his brother’s best (only) friend.

When he got off the train and exited the station to find a crowd of cheering fans, he turned on the charm—dazzling, spinning, Charizard roaring. Flush with confidence, he scanned the crowd, and saw Hop, jumping and waving with the best of them, and next to him--that must have been Gloria. 

She was... unexpected. 

Beside Hop, loud and now posing, his biggest fan, Gloria was just standing there, watching from beneath too-long bangs with a small smile the only sign of her excitement. He fought the urge to grimace, continuing to shake hands and talk to his fans—he hoped that Gloria actually _did_ even want a Pokemon, and that it hadn’t just been Hop projecting his (admittedly very) strong personality onto this poor girl. 

Leon finally made it over to them, the crowds beginning to disperse, and the trio of them walked up the lane to Hop and Leon’s house, Hop talking excitedly the whole way along, Gloria seemingly content to keep pace just behind them with a smile on her face, and then it was time for his big reveal. 

He watched them both carefully when the three Pokemon scampered out of their balls and around the little field next to their house. Hop was, of course, excited, a grin splitting his face as his attention shifted from one Pokemon to another. Gloria, while more subdued, did have a gleam in her eye that Leon recognized instantly, crouching down to smile at the wary Sobble and laugh at Scorbunny’s antics. Leon felt some of the tension drain out of his body—whether or not Gloria took it quite as far as Hop did, she was unmistakably a Pokemon lover. 

Hop offered to let Gloria choose first, and Leon didn’t bother to suppress the grin caused by a surge of pride. Since when was Hop such a good kid? Leon knew that at that age he’d have probably barreled over his Gran to get to a rare Pokemon first. Hell, even today it was a toss up. Maybe this Gloria was a good influence. 

He watched carefully as she looked at each of the three Pokemon in a row, hesitating before crouching down and reaching out to the rambunctious little Scorbunny, which bounced excitedly over to her. Hop wasted no time in snagging Grookey for himself, of course. Leon paused to see, in the midst of Hop already excitedly running off to play with his new Pokemon, Gloria, her Scorbunny’s paw in one hand, pausing to look back at little Sobble, which was trembling, standing alone on the makeshift battle field in the yard. 

“And you, little guy, are coming with me! Don’t worry, Charizard’ll show you the ropes,” Leon said, walking over to the grateful little Pokemon (even if it did look a bit scared of his Charizard), and chanced a glance back over at Gloria, who was smiling now, looking relieved. 

Okay, so he definitely liked this Gloria kid.

He liked her more when he found her, unconscious in the Slumbering Weald, thin frame wrapped around her little Scorbunny like a shield.

*

And of course Hop had convinced him to endorse the two of them for the Gym Challenge, because his little brother somehow managed to always get his way. Leon still wasn’t sure if Gloria even _wanted_ to do the Gym Challenge and become his brother’s rival and all of that other stuff that his kid brother managed to spin up in one long excited rant, but she’d beaten Hop in a battle, she’d found a Wishing Star, and Leon was willing to bet on anyone who’d look out for that last Sobble, who’d take a hit for her Pokemon.

He was standing next to Sonia, waving at Hop and Gloria as they were getting on the train to Motostoke. 

“Reminds me of us, getting on that train and starting the Gym Challenge,” Sonia said with a pensive air, finger tapping at her chin slightly as she turned to him. 

Leon shook his head, thinking about the comparison. Hop’s little head of purple hair disappeared onto the train, where he’d taken the steps two at a time, practically bouncing with excitement. The parallels were certainly there—Leon remembered that rush of excitement, the overwhelming excitement of starting on a momentous journey, knowing that he was going to see the world, that he had everything ahead of him, the determination to prove to everyone just what he knew he was made of. He didn’t know Gloria well enough yet to compare her to Sonia, but she seemed like a good friend to his brother, and Hop certainly seemed keen on Gloria. Maybe more keen than friends, he thought, watching the two settle into a seat next to the window, Hop leaning across the table between them to chatter excitedly to Gloria. Setting off on a journey together, friends and rivals—maybe they’d have better luck than him and Sonia. Not, of course, that Leon could blame Sonia—he had eyes, and it was hardly a contest between him and Nessa. 

But yeah, maybe things would be different for Hop. He watched as the train started, and the pair turned to look out the window, waving goodbye, Hop with a big, overexaggerated wave of his arms, Gloria with a soft little wave and a mouthed “thanks”. He could see it. She was a good one. And kind of cute too, he thought—Hop could definitely do worse—watching her tuck a piece of hair behind her ears and turn back to Hop with a soft smile.

*

Months later, Leon was lounging on the couch of Raihan’s Hammerlocke apartment, listening to Sonia and Nessa pretend they weren’t flirting in the kitchen, TV tuned to the Gym Challenge. It’d been a busy few months, even with the Gym Challenge going on, and he’d only barely managed to catch all of Hop’s challenges and battles. He was a bit ashamed that he hadn’t yet watched Gloria, but, well, Hop was his brother, so it made sense that he’d spend his limited time watching Hop, the way Hop had watched him for all of those years, even if he had endorsed Gloria. Besides, from what he’d caught in the news, she was doing just fine. Through both Milo and Nessa in one go. He felt a pang of pride, even if he knew he couldn’t really take much credit for having taught her anything.

Now, though, he had a day off, and he was enjoying his lazy day shut up in Hammerlocke with his friends, watching the day’s challengers to Kabu’s gym. Hop was already done and through—predictably, he’d been one of the first challengers of the day—but Gloria was coming up.

“Looks like both of your little protegés have been doing well so far, eh, mate?” Raihan said with a toothy grin. “Unfortunate for them I’m no pushover like the rest of these idiots.” 

“Who are you calling a pushover?” Nessa called from the kitchen right before Leon heard a splash of water and turned to see Raihan spluttering, pushing wet hair off of his forehead.

“Do you seriously have a Pokemon out in here, Ness?” he grumbled, pulling off his soaked bandana with a dismayed scowl. 

“No. That water came from your kitchen sink,” Nessa said, brandishing a glass of water in Raihan’s direction.

“You’re a heathen,” Raihan said, kicking his long legs up onto the table and leaning back. “Fine, you’re not a pushover. Point stands that both of Lee’s picks made it past you in one try.” 

“Yeah, because they’re _good_ ,” Sonia said, coming to sink into an armchair next to the couch. “Did you even watch their matches?”

“Well... no,” Raihan admitted. “I’m a very busy man!” 

Nessa rolled her eyes. “It’ll be your problem when you’re not prepared to battle them. I mean, Leon’s the champion, and he’s still got time to watch the matches.”

Leon felt his cheeks heat as everyone’s eyes turned to him, and prayed that he wasn’t showing a blush. 

“Lee!” Sonia cried out. Damn—Sonia had always known him just a little too well.

“I’m _actually_ a very busy man! I’ve made time to watch Hop’s battles, but... I haven’t seen Gloria’s yet.” He ducked his head, rubbing at the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “But you said she’s good, yeah?” 

Nessa started to speak but Sonia put her hand out. “Nope, no, you don’t deserve any heads up. She’s about to start, so you can see for yourself.” 

Leon looked up at the TV to see that Gloria was, in fact, walking into the gym mission. Her hair had grown longer, like she hadn’t gotten it cut since she left Postwick, and she already looked older, leaner, stronger—less like the kid he’d given her first Pokemon and more like someone who’d spent months on the road, training constantly. It made him feel unsettled, seeing the shift so obvious in front of him. The group chattered amiably as she breezily made it through the challenge, catching each Pokemon with no more than a small grin and a nod in celebration, before she was through to the fight itself. 

As the cameras zoomed in on her, walking across the field to take her position across from Kabu, Leon noticed it again—that gleam in her eye, something sharp and wicked and fierce, that reminded him of the way he felt right before he battled Raihan and told him that yes, she was probably going to be good. 

“Do we know her lineup?” Raihan asked, now leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, hands folded and attention tight on the girl on the TV. It seemed like Leon wasn’t the only one who’d noticed that hungry gleam. 

“No, she’s not one of those idiots that goes around telling every reporter who looks her way what Pokemon she’s got,” Nessa said, “so we only know the Pokemon she used against Milo and I. Corvisquire, Raboot, Eldegoss, and Boltund. Sonia might know more, but she’s not telling.”

“Certainly not after you both admitted you hadn’t watched a single one of her matches,” Sonia sniffed from her armchair, giving them another long glare.

The crowd roared as the match began, and the group of friends hushed as they watched Pokemon appear on the screen—first, Gloria’s Shellos, quickly followed by a Ninetales from Kabu. 

“Good type match-up,” Raihan muttered from next to him, and Leon found himself nodding, even as he couldn’t help but think that the Shellos just looked so little and vulnerable next to the larger, elegant Ninetales. Little, maybe, but it and its trainer proved that they weren’t so vulnerable as Leon watched Gloria and her Shellos carefully demolish first Kabu’s Ninetales and then his Arcanine in patient battle, even as the Shellos fought off a burn. But then it was Centiskorch, Gigantamaxed and seeming to take up its entire half of the giant stadium, facing off against the slightly battered little Shellos, and Leon shifted uncomfortably. A win was certainly possible here, but it might be a bit ugly. 

Then, to Leon’s surprise, Gloria crouched down, and with a couple of words to her Shellos that the cameras didn’t catch, she patted its head and recalled it. 

Raihan, evidently as surprised as Leon, frowned at the TV. “Okay. Not the move I’d have gone for, but I can see it. I think she’s gotta go for either the Raboot or the Corvisquire, take either the fire and bug resistance from Raboot or the flying advantage on Corvisquire.” 

“I think she’ll go Corvisquire,” Leon said, tilting his head to look at Raihan. “Much easier to do good damage that way.” 

Raihan snorted. “Typical, you. I’d personally take the Raboot.” 

“Yes, well, one of us is the unbeatable champion, and it isn’t you, Raihan.”

“Hush, both of you!” Nessa said, and her voice had a rising tinge of excitement that caught the feuding boys’ attention, “You’re both wrong!”

Leon turned back to the screen, watching as a roiling cloud of red light grew in size behind Gloria. He couldn’t yet quite tell the shape of the Pokemon on the screen, but what he could see clearly, even at the zoomed out angle of the camera, was that Gloria’s tiny little smile had turned into a tight, wicked grin that even Kabu seemed a little unnerved by. And then an almighty roar shook the stadium, and the red light cleared to reveal a massive Gyarados, equal to the size of Kabu’s Gigantamaxed Centiskorch, sharp fangs bared as it eyed the Pokemon on the other side of the field. 

Gloria was still grinning, the crowd was roaring, the set of Kabu’s jaw had turned tight, and Leon felt like he’d been punched in the gut in the best way possible. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Raihan beside him and out of the corner of his eye could see the dragon tamer leaning even closer to the screen, eyes fixed on the TV as he bit at his bottom lip, one of his legs started to bounce. Leon understood the feeling, even if he didn’t fully understand why he felt it—after all, this wouldn’t be a good battle. This moment was exciting, but there would be no last minute saves, no dazzling move combos. The patience and finesse Gloria had shown with her earlier match-ups wasn’t necessary here; with this Pokemon, she had the upper hand in basically every sense of the word. But something about it got his blood racing, his pulse thrumming, even as he watched Kabu’s Centiskorch get the first move off and it barely ruffle the giant Gyarados. The battle was over one move later, with a giant gush of water that flooded the stadium and took down the other Pokemon in one hit. The camera zoomed in on Gloria as she turned to her Pokemon, looking exhilarated and happy and a little amused and not at all relieved or nervous, because, as Leon now realized, she’d known all along that she had this in the bag. And that was what made that roiling, restless adrenaline in his blood rise, was the sheer bloody cheek of it all, the ruthless elegance, the showmanship, the _power_. Because she could have used her Gyarados from the start. But no, she’d waited it out, baited out Kabu’s style and strategy until the last Pokemon, when she could reveal her trump card with a flourish that everyone in that stadium would remember. 

The group was quiet for a moment, the only sound the cheering on the TV screen and the announcer recapping the highlights of the brief battle. 

“Well, if I’d known a Gyarados was an option, I’d have chosen that,” Raihan said in a tone that was clearly going for smart but still had a tinge of dazedness to it. 

“Did you know she had that?” Leon asked, turning to Sonia.

“No, you would definitely have told your beautiful, Water-loving girlfriend if you knew one of the Challengers was going up against Kabu with a Gyarados, right babe?” Nessa said, turning to Sonia with big eyes.

“I didn’t,” Sonia said, waving a hand at Nessa. “Not that I would’ve told you lot if I had known. No, that one plays her cards very close to her chest.” 

Leon turned back to the TV and studied the girl on the screen, watching that familiar gleam in her eye as they replayed highlights of the battle, that little smile that concealed the strategist beneath. 

Later that night, in his own dark apartment, Leon dreamed of the roar of a crowd, the cries of Pokemon, sharp fangs and beating wings, fire and water, long blonde bangs almost covering sharp grey eyes and a wicked grin. It wasn’t until he woke with a start, tangled in his blankets and sweaty and _aching_ , one hand already wrapped around himself in his sleep, that he realized he was absolutely and utterly fucked, because all it took was the hazy realization that he’d been having a wet dream like he was 14 again about _battling Gloria_ and one half-aborted desperate thrust of his hips for him to come with a desperate groan.


	2. feel the heat, hold it in your lungs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh gosh, i did not expect so many people to like this story so much, but i'm so glad y'all are here with me on this one. please note the just-in-case ratings bump, and, uh, yeah, enjoy! 
> 
> btw, title and chapter titles from the song "overgrown" by oh wonder.

Gloria was in Hammerlocke. 

Standing just down the street, quietly watching the Chairman and Oleana talk to that really weird challenger Bede. 

Leon’s hand instinctively went to his hair, trying to smooth down some of its wildness. He heard his Charizard give an amused snort and shot it a glare before he kept walking down the street, towards Gloria. He absolutely wasn’t going to turn around and avoid the girl just because he’d realized that he thought she was pretty and interesting and most importantly, might be a _really_ good Pokemon trainer, even if she was practically a kid and his little brother’s best friend-slash-rival. He was the champion, after all. He didn’t run away. 

“Hey there, challenger!” he said, aiming for a jaunty, excited tone that hopefully didn’t betray the anxious flutter in his stomach (and lower) at seeing Gloria again in the flesh. 

“Leon!” Gloria turned to him with a smile, and, to his surprise, met his open armed greeting with a hug. 

He should have run. He should definitely have run away.

It was a warm day in Hammerlocke, so she’d taken off her knit cap and cardigan, leaving Leon free to notice the warmth of her bare skin against his, the way her head came just to his collarbone, the faint familiar smells of grass and curry and super potions and something else spicy and sweet and entirely her own, the coiled strength in her arms as they wrapped around him. A long moment later, she was leaning back and looking up at him, and he was trying to get his mind to focus again on what he’d come over for, trying not to stumble over his words like an idiot. 

“When’d you get in?” 

“Just a day or two ago. I spent a while camping and training up in the wild area instead of taking the train.” 

“Yeah… good idea, yeah,” he said, like an idiot. “Well, before you head on up to Stow-on-Side you should visit the vault. There’s some really interesting old stuff in there.” 

Bloody hell, could he sound any lamer? He was telling her to go look at a bunch of old tapestries. 

She just smiled and said, “Maybe I will. I mean, if you think it’s worth a visit, it must be good.” 

Leon felt his face heat with a flush of stupid pride that he hoped was hidden by his dark complexion, and reached up to adjust the cap on his head for something to do with his hands. “It’s cool, yeah.” A beat of comfortable silence hung between them for a moment, and Gloria seemed to be looking at him with something different in her eyes, some long consideration that made Leon begin to heat under her gaze, so he suddenly managed to say, “So, uh, do you know where Hop is? I haven’t heard from him in a while.” 

Whatever look Gloria had been giving him disappeared as she looked away from him, over his shoulder, small teeth biting at her lower lip as she fought a frown. “I don’t know… He lost to Challenger Bede after we left Motostoke… He seemed pretty torn up about it.” 

And at least Leon wasn’t so totally hopeless that the thought of his little brother sad and hurting wasn’t still a brutally effective mood-killer. “Aw, man. Yeah, he really takes that stuff to heart. I ought to go find him after I meet with Chairman Rose.” 

Gloria nodded, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I think I’ll head over to the vault, myself.”

*

Staring at the girl next to him on his couch, trailing her hand down his bicep, Leon was forcibly reminded of all of the reasons that he hated using his status as champion to pull girls.

“You’re so _strong_ ,” the girl—Sara—murmured with a soft giggle, giving his hard muscle a soft squeeze. 

He gave her his best champion grin in response and tried to tell himself all of the reasons he’d decided to do this—to go out to a bar in full champion regalia and chat up the first pretty girl who took one look at his cape and fell all over him. It was necessary, because as much as he’d tried, he’d been unable to shake these new feelings he had about Gloria, and it was absolutely imperative that he do because she was _his little brother’s age_ and his little brother’s _best friend_. After several repeats of that first dream he’d had about her, which now incorporated the smell of her hair or the feeling of her body pressed up against him and had left him waking up in a sweaty, sticky mess, hating himself a little bit, he’d decided that the issue was that he’d been too busy lately to take care of those kind of needs during the day, and so he just needed to wank a bit more in his waking hours, when he could firmly control exactly what he was thinking about (or, at least, mostly control). That had worked well enough for a month or two, until he’d finally felt like he had himself under control enough to watch the recording of her fight with Bea that he’d been ashamedly avoiding watching. Which, it turned out, he’d been right to do. He’d barely finished watching her steamroll the gym, noting her look of barely-concealed delight and satisfaction at the look on Bea’s face when she brought the leader’s Machamp down in one hit from a bloody _Ribombee_ , when he’d realized he was hard as a rock and his hand was snaking its way down his pants seemingly of its own accord, vague nebulous images floating past his mind of with no regard for connection or order of Gloria, fierce and strong battling, underneath him while he panted above her, grinding on top of him with that same satisfied grin she got when she knew she’d win—and then he was gasping and spilling all over his hand. 

Which was when he’d decided that maybe the issue was that he hadn’t been laid in too long, and he just needed to overwrite whatever this recent obsession was with more solid memories, like with a woman his own age. Which had led him to Sara. If only his stupid bloody body, which was decidedly less interested than he would’ve hoped at a beautiful woman practically sitting in his lap in his apartment, would cooperate. 

“What’s your training regimen like?” Sara asked, and Leon forced himself back to focusing on her, trying to grab onto this train of thought.

“Why? Are you a trainer yourself?” he said, a rising note of excitement in his voice.

“Oh, no, not me,” Sara said with a soft laugh. “I have a couple Pokemon, but they’re just companions. I don’t do much training.” 

Leon’s excitement dimmed somewhat. “Well, you’re never too late to start! You could be a great trainer; I’d love it if everyone in Galar pushed themselves to be the best trainer they could be.”

Leon watched a flicker of irritation appear and then disappear in a flash on Sara’s face. “You’re so sweet,” she cooed in a voice that was just a little false, “but I could never be a strong trainer like you. Training’s just not my thing. And besides, why would I need to when I have a strong champion like you to take care of me?” Her voice had dropped to a throaty purr and her hand was inching off his bicep to his chest now. 

Leon fought the surge of disappointment and tried to focus on how nice her hand felt sliding across his muscles. It was always like this; everyone loved the champion, but hardly anyone cared or wanted what came with it—the obsessive focus on training, the constant travel, the grueling match schedule, an encyclopedic knowledge of Pokemon and battle strategies. But that was fine, because he was just here for a one night stand, something to kick him off this weird obsession with Gloria, and Sara was here for the same thing. So he let her lean in and kiss him, watched her undress in front of him and then move to him, even acquiesced to her giggled request that he keep his cape on (she wasn’t the first girl to ask). When he was settled between her legs, he let out a soft sigh and let himself focus on the wet heat of her, how good this felt. Looking down, he moved one hand to her chest, palming one of her full, round breasts—yes, this was good, he thought with a soft groan, how good this was, she had great tits, huge and bouncing, and Gloria didn’t have that, no, Gloria’s tits were small, perky, barely a handful, but that was fine because Leon had always been more of an ass man anyway, and, hell, all of that cycling around the region and training had left Gloria with thick, toned thighs and the perkiest, perfect ass he’d ever seen, and his mind wandered to the time he’d been watching her leave after talking to him and Hop, and she stopped to hop off her bike and pick up an item he had no idea how she’d spotted dropped on the ground, bending over in those skin tight little bike shorts and—oh, _hell_. He was snapped out of his reverie by a particular loud moan from Sara beneath him, and he realized that while he’d been distracted and thinking about Gloria, he’d unconsciously picked up his pace and was now slamming into Sara hard and fast, and she was gasping and clenching around him. She came wailing his name, and Leon, now uncomfortably close himself, tried to keep his focus on Sara—her beautiful, angular face, her bouncing breasts—but the moment he let himself close his eyes he thought about Gloria, that ass, pinning her to the ground and slamming into her hot and sweaty and riled up after a battle, and then he was gone. 

When he saw Raihan the next day, who waggled his eyebrows suggestively and told Leon that a little Rookidee had told him a certain champion had a fun night out at Hammerlocke’s finest the night before, he growled out a “shut up, mate” that, for once, actually shut Raihan up.

*

He managed to keep his distance from Gloria (physically, at least) for another couple of months, through the next few gyms, somewhat recklessly hoping that maybe if he just let himself ride this crush (because he had stopped deluding himself, that was what this was) out, he could get over it and go back to treating her like a normal challenger, a normal kid.

His peaceful plan of action was interrupted by the ringing of his Rotom phone, and the crackly voice of Hop from the other end of the line—“Hey Lee, I don’t mean to bother you, but did you know that the doors to Spikemuth are shut and the city’s locked up?”

Leon frowned. “I’m sure it’s a temporary issue, not anything to get worked up about, kiddo.”

“No, no, that’s the thing, there are lots of people here who’ve been waiting around and have said it’s been locked up for a while, they don’t know what’s going on. Something might be wrong, Lee, and I didn’t know who else to call.” 

After a moment of hesitation—“Alright, I’ll head that way.”

“You’re the best, Lee! What a champion!”

Which was how he found himself standing outside of the now mysteriously-open gates to Spikemuth, looking for Hop. He knew that Hop had been right, because the general consensus of the crowds now milling into the city was confusion about the unexplained closure and sudden opening, so now it was just a question of where his little brother had gone. After poking his head into the Pokemon Center and not spotting his head of fuzzy purple hair, Leon headed straight for the gym. He was prepared and expecting to find Hop mid-battle; what he wasn’t prepared to see was Hop, sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out, talking to Marnie and trying to coax her Morpeko over to him, bobbing his head and listening to Piers’ band jamming, and across the room, closer to the band, Piers, up on a little raised stage talking to Gloria, sitting close enough that their legs were brushing, head leaned down to she could hear him over the music so that his lips were practically touching her ear. Looking at Piers, who Leon had always thought was a pretty good sort, even if he was a bit odd, he realized with horror that he suddenly had the urge to punch the gym leader in the face. 

“Lee!” he heard Hop yell over the music, standing up and beckoning him over. 

“Hey, kid, what’s going on?” Lee asked, trying to focus his attention on Hop in front of him and not the other side of the room. 

“Turns out it was Team Yell blocking off access to the city, but once Marnie and Piers figured it out they got them to open up the gate. Now I’m just waiting for my gym battle.” 

“I can see that,” Leon said, looking around the dingy arena. “Why the wait?” 

Marnie was the one to answer this time. “M’brother wanted a bit of a break after losing to Gloria ’n me back to back,” she said with a grin. 

“Before he makes it 0 and 3 with me!” Leon grinned at his brother, even as Marnie obviously rolled her eyes behind him. 

“That’s a champion attitude right there,” he said, glad that Hop seemed to have regained some of his confidence after struggling with the Circhester Gym. “I should go say hi to Piers.” 

He ignored the raised eyebrow that Marnie shot him (the girl was as obnoxiously perceptive as her brother) and made his way across the room. He felt his jaw clench instinctively and fought to loosen it as he focused on looking at Piers and smiling. 

“Piers, mate. Heard you needed a bit of a break after a rough couple of battles, eh?” His attempt at a jovial tone was helped by the way Piers leaned away from Gloria to look up at him, slouching back on his hands. 

“Oh, I’m not surprised. I’ve told you all I’m not a particularly good gym leader,” Piers said with a shrug. 

Gloria piped up from beside him, shaking her head. “That’s not true, it was a really good battle. And Toxtricity seemed to really like the music, so Piers was nice enough to let him jam out,” she said, pointing over to where the spiky little Pokemon seemed to be… headbanging? happily enough. 

When Leon turned back from watching the Pokemon in amusement, his breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t noticed at first, from the way she was turned and his attempt to focus on Piers, but Gloria had changed out of her usual top and into the skimpy little top of the Dark-type gym’s uniform. Leon fought hard to swallow, trying not to look at the long expanse of taut pale skin splayed out in front of him, but Gloria seemed to have noticed his hesitation.

“Oh, yeah, it was getting a little warm inside the gym, what with all the people and the dancing, so Piers was nice enough to let me change into one of the gym uniform’s tops,” Gloria said, and then caught his eye with what he could have sworn was a flicker of mischief in her eye. “Do you like it?” 

And then she had the nerve to stretch her arms behind her and arch her back, and Leon cursed inwardly as he tried to find a way to plausibly do as she asked and look at the uniform while not also ogling the swell of her breasts, pushing against the top of the uniform. “Erm,” he stumbled, “uh—yeah, it—” He forced himself to look at the wall behind her and tried to ignore the telltale stirring of interest low in his gut.

“What do you think, Piers?” Gloria said, turning cheekily to the gym leader beside her.

Piers didn’t seem to be having the same struggles as Leon was, and Leon wasn’t sure if he resented the man for his apparently superior conscience or was just glad that he didn’t have to watch Piers ogle Gloria while attempting to keep calm. Instead, Piers just said, “Yeah, looks good, kid. Bet you’re a lot more comfortable too. Sorry, all the amps and equipment in here make it pretty hot, especially after a battle.” 

Battle—yes, talking about battling was definitely safer than talking about Gloria’s outfit and whether Leon liked how she looked in it (to which the answer was a resounding yes.

“Speaking of battle, how did you enjoy your match against Piers, Gloria? What did you think of not being able to Dynamax?”

Piers grimaced, slouching further. “Sorry, I know it was probably disappointing compared to all the big stadiums in other cities—”

“No,” Gloria interrupted, brow furrowed as whatever mischief she’d been up to disappeared into seriousness, “no, it wasn’t disappointing. I actually thought it was really good. It can get so easy to rely on Dynamaxing as a strategy, so it was good to test myself and shake it up. And besides, we can only Dynamax here in Galar, so if I ever wanted to battle other regions, I shouldn’t be relying on Dynamaxing.”

Leon nodded slowly, realizing with dread that the simmering, simple attraction he’d felt for Gloria had always been somewhat mixed up with an admiration for her as a person, as a trainer, and that second part was growing with every bit she spoke, which only seemed to make him more attracted to her. He reached a hand up to rub at his face, hating the way he felt confused and drawn to her and disappointed in himself, when Gloria interrupted his spiraling thoughts.

“Do you disagree, Leon?” 

He looked up to find both Piers and Gloria looking at him, and he realized what his reaction to his own thoughts had probably looked like. He grinned sheepishly. “No, no, it’s not that. I just… I actually really agree. And I’d never thought of it quite that way. I was feeling a little embarrassed I’d never considered that perspective. I should maybe be rethinking some of my training, actually… ” 

Piers looked like was almost about to smile, and Gloria was looking up at him with something like admiration in her eyes that simultaneously made his chest tight and warm and sent his gut sinking, because she looked up to him and he was stuck thinking of her in a way she didn’t deserve at all, when he was helpfully interrupted by the sound of a large explosion off in the distance. 

The music cut with a crash, and suddenly all of the trainers were on their feet. 

“What was that?” Hop asked from across the room, already halfway to the door. 

“No, Hop, stay here,” Leon said, looking around the room. “I’ll go check it out. After all, what are champions for?” He gave the room a broad grin, adjusting his cape and the hat on his head. 

“Are you sure you don’t want help?” Gloria said, her Toxtricity, sensing the shift in atmosphere in the room, back at her side. 

“Nah. You focus on the gym challenge, leave this one to--to me.” He’d almost said ‘to the adults’, echoing Sonia’s words over and over again, but it made him feel sick to his stomach to exclude her from that group while at the same time knowing the way he thought about her. Before he could completely take in the slightly reproachful look on her face, Hop’s loudly expressed disappointment, or Marnie’s knowing gaze, he was sprinting out of the gym.


	3. chasing down light in the indigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh oops, we earned our E rating, and then oops the smut grew feels. 
> 
> i'm so sorry - this chapter has been brought to you by horniness and run-on sentences. but i hope you all enjoy!

“To losing!” Raihan tilted the neck of his beer bottle towards Leon’s own, the glass barely brushing with the softest of clinks before he was tipping it back and taking a long swig. Leon laughed and took his own swallow of the crisp, cool liquid. He and Raihan were already a few drinks into their annual, personal celebration of the end of the gym challenge, which usually just meant the two of them sitting on Raihan’s couch, pretending to seriously analyze and compare the triumphant gym challengers while they got drunk before they, plastered, agreed that this year it would just be the two of them battling again. Leon usually wound up waking up the next morning, asleep in his clothes on the couch with a dry throat and a pounding head, and he absolutely loved it. 

This year his feelings were slightly more complicated—both Hop and Gloria had beaten Raihan, beaten the gym challenge, and would be in Wyndon soon for the real show. It felt… different to indulge in their usual dismissive shit talk about Hop, not just because he was Leon’s brother but because Hop was a good trainer. All of the trainers this year… they felt different, stronger, hungrier, better than usual. Hop, Marnie… and Leon took another swallow of beer as his thoughts turned to Gloria. 

Raihan, his face already relaxing into the loose smirk that was a telltale sign he wasn’t as unaffected by the drinking as he’d like to pretend, seemed to read Leon’s thoughts. 

“Gloria… she was the best of them.” He sank back into the corner of the couch, stretching out one absurdly long leg to prop his foot up on the coffee table. 

“You think?” Leon said, trying to mask the slight tremor to his voice at the mention of Gloria with another swig of beer. 

Raihan gave a sharp, short laugh. “Yeah, mate. No offense to your brother, he’s a good kid, but… I mean, did you _watch_ Gloria’s match?” 

Leon had, of course. 

He’d begged off attending in person, even though he’d been close by, and had instead indulged in watching live from his own little apartment. Unlike some of the other gyms, Raihan’s gym mission wasn’t aired publicly, so he’d had to wait until she walked out, the steady drumming of her fingertips along the side of her thigh as she waited for the battle to begin the only indication of her nerves. He’d watched the sway of her hair as she moved around, directing her Pokemon, had watched her small white teeth press against her lower lip whenever Raihan switched Pokemon or used a particularly unexpected strategy. He’d watched her send out a Pokemon he’d never thought to see from her—a Gastrodon—and wondered if it was her little Shellos from Motostoke, all grown up, just like her, watched it play the perfect support role to the bulky Grimmsnarl he’d seen (on replay after replay, in the shameful dark of his apartment late at night) demolish Piers’ team. 

“I mean, I really thought I might have had her at the end. Or at least, might have made it close,” Raihan mused, heaving a sigh as he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. 

Leon had thought so too, had grimaced in his apartment when Raihan’s Duraludon made it out, facing off against a slightly battered Grimmsnarl having taken the brunt of Raihan’s attacks, but when he’d looked at Gloria’s face she’d looked… pleased, even when the Duraludon shot off a steel-type attack that almost knocked out her Grimmsnarl. He hadn’t understood when she’d turned to Dynamax not her Grimmsnarl, or some other dragon-killer on her team, but that Gastrodon, and it wasn’t until the split second that a massive earthquake had shaken the stadium that he’d remembered that, no matter that the Pokemon had spent the whole match absorbing and firing off water attacks, Gastrodon’s second type was _ground_ , and by the time he realized Raihan had forgotten that for a split second as well, the gigantic steel Pokemon was already toppling to the ground, defeated by the super effective hit. He shifted slightly on the couch, trying desperately _not_ to think about what he’d done after watching that match, when he re-focused on what Raihan was saying. 

“… think I might see if she’d grab dinner with me sometime, once this is all over.” 

“Gloria—?” Leon half-choked, sitting up a little straighter on the couch, any tingling memories stirring from his recollections evaporated in a moment by a flash of anger and panic. 

“Yeah, Gloria.” Raihan seemed, if anything, amused by Leon’s sudden change in demeanor. 

“But—she’s—why? I mean, she’s—Raihan, she’s a kid, you can’t.” He knew he was spluttering, barely making any sense, but he was imagining Raihan shooting Gloria one of those toothy grins of his, leaning back to take a selfie with her, laughing with her over dinner, maybe even drawing her tight into his lean body, leaning down to _kiss her_ , and it was short-circuiting Leon’s brain.

“She’s not a _kid_ , Leon.” Raihan rolled his eyes, sitting up a bit straighter even as he took another long chug of beer. “And don’t get your knickers in a twist, I said I wanted to take her to dinner, not kidnap her and make her my bride.” 

“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s… she’s so _young_ , Rai.” Leon felt the pressure of his teeth on the inside of his cheek before he even fully registered he’d been gnawing on it anxiously. 

“Lee… Sure, she’s young, but… so are we, you know, even if it doesn’t feel that way.” At Leon’s frustrated glare, Raihan gave him a sudden mischievous look. “I know, it hasn’t felt that way in ages… maybe even… since we finished the gym challenge?” 

Leon looked away, gulping at his drink desperately even though and because he knew Raihan was right. 

“Tell me you don’t remember what it’s like, Lee. Going home and realizing you’ve traveled all over, met all kinds of different people, have eaten, slept and breathed Pokemon for almost a year and then—you’re back where you started, and you’re entirely different but everyone else is the same. I know you became Champion, so things were a little different, but not so different that you can’t imagine why Gloria might want to spend some time with someone who understands what she’s been through, and why it wouldn’t be so bad if she did.”

And the worst part was that Leon _did_ understand, did remember how small and provincial Postwick had felt, even his parents had felt… dulled, somewhat, in comparison to everything and everyone he’d seen. He remembered how adult he’d felt, and he absolutely hated that a part of him grabbed at Raihan’s words—wouldn’t be so bad—and snatched and clung to them like a greedy child, because if that were true then maybe it wasn’t so bad, the way he felt about Gloria, and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if one day feeling turned into something more than feeling, turned into acting, and he took another long gulp of beer, draining the bottle, because he could not start thinking about his feelings turning into acting while he was sprawled across from Raihan on his battered old couch. 

“If I agree with you, will you stop waxing poetic at me and get me another round?” was what he said instead, laughing when Raihan agreed and got up to get another beer.

*

He was still thinking about Raihan’s words when he was laying in the bed of his Wyndon hotel room, tossing and turning and absolutely not sleeping. The first day of the finals was tomorrow, and he’d agreed to take Hop and Gloria out for a quick dinner, his treat, earlier that evening. He’d thought maybe it would be better, having Hop there as a buffer, had thought that maybe even he’d see some evidence that Hop felt like Gloria was more than just a friend, or vice versa, and that would help him push his own feelings to the side. But no, they’d seemed like exactly what they’d always presented themselves as—friends and rivals, nothing more—and instead Leon had had to suffer through one of the most pleasantly excruciating dinners of his life. The three of them had talked about Pokemon, about Postwick, about places all over the region that most people never saw—“and I finally made it out there, and then all of a sudden I realized there was just a _swarm_ of Bewears, heading straight for me”—and Leon had the time of his life. With Gloria. She directed her comments at him just as often as she did Hop, though Leon wasn’t sure he could say the same about himself. Periodically he would realize, with a start, that he’d fallen, absorbed in conversation with Gloria, staring at her, just watching the play of light over her face, laughing at her jokes and generally making a complete fool of himself.

When dinner had ended he’d made up some excuse so that he could, instead of walking back with them, sit along the edge of the river running through Wyndon and try to sort through his own stupid crush. When the sun had long been down and he was shivering from the cold and no sooner to knowing what to do, if anything, about these stubbornly persistent feelings, he’d made his way back to their hotel, where he was now staring at the ceiling futilely. 

Frustrated, he stood up suddenly, grabbing his key and shoving into his pocket as he made his way to the door, down the long hallways of the hotel, through a stairwell door and up to the roof of the building. When he got to the top, he noticed it had already been propped open, but didn’t think much of it, just stepped out and inhaled deeply, trying to let the cold air settle him.

“Leon?” 

He froze, even as his heart gave a little half-skip. He recognized that voice.

“Gloria?” 

As he turned, he saw her, sitting against a chimney a few feet back from the ledge at the edge of the roof, legs stretched out in front of her, watching the lights play against the night sky. He officially had the _worst_ luck. 

“What are you doing up here?” he asked, voice a bit hoarse. 

“Couldn’t sleep. Probably nerves about tomorrow, so I came up here to clear my head and think.” She gave him a little shrug and a half-smile and his chest ached as he realized how very similar that had been to his own thinking. 

“Sorry, I’ll leave you then—” He started to go back down the stairs, but she interrupted him with a sudden “wait!” that, maybe, just maybe, might have included a hint of actual pleading, and it was that vulnerability that made him turn back. 

“I just mean, you probably came up here for a reason too. If you want to be alone, that’s alright, but you don’t have to leave on my account. I’d enjoy the company.” 

She patted the spot on the ground beside her, and, after a moment of hesitation in which Leon knew his better instincts were screaming at him to leave leave leave, he walked over and slid down to sit next to her. They weren’t touching, but he was close enough to feel her body heat next to him, close enough to smell the scent of the hotel’s shampoo on her hair and he fought the urge to lean, just barely, close enough that his arm would brush against hers. 

“So… you’re nervous?” It seemed impossible, given the brash, confident way she’d made through the gym challenge. 

She turned to look at him, drawing her lower lip in to bite at it softly. “I am, yeah. I know I don’t have any family legacy I’m trying to uphold, or prove, like Hop or Marnie, but honestly that just makes me feel more pressure. I’m doing this entirely for myself, and for my Pokemon. And now it all kind of feels… I dunno, real.” 

Bloody hell, he knew he should be coming with some kind of comforting words, something to make her feel better, but for a long moment all he could do was think that she looked prettier than ever in the starlight. After a pause that lasted just a beat too long, he found words. “I know what you mean. I mean—for Hop, yeah, he’s the Champion’s little brother, but when I set off on the gym challenge I was just a nobody kid from Postwick with a Charmeleon.” She laughed at that, and he felt like his chest was somehow tightening and eased at the sound of it. “But even if you lose first round tomorrow morning, you still competed the gym challenge. And, not to sound like too much of a sap, but… the journey was always the more important part. You’re a different person than you were when you left, and no one can take that from you, yeah?” 

Hell, this girl turned him into such a melt. But she was looking up at him like he’d said something important and real and like she cared, and she had shifted slightly while he was talking so that now their arms were brushing, and Leon was still absolutely melting for it. 

“Yeah… you’re right. I don’t feel like the same person I was when I left Postwick. I feel… more confident, more knowledgeable, stronger…” She paused, looking up at him in a way that felt significant. “More mature.” 

Leon shut his eyes, trying to force himself to stop reading into her actions, but his voice was throaty when he just said, lamely, “yeah”. He kept his eyes shut, leaning his head back against the brick behind him as he tried to convince himself that he was a mentor figure, like an older brother, and he couldn’t go reading her interest into everything that might have felt even lightly like flirting or he would _ruin_ this. 

After the pause went on too long, and sitting in the dark, smelling her hair and feeling now not just her arm pressed into the side of him but her leg brushing his too against the soundtrack of the distant sounds of the river and their own breathing, became unbearable for his nerves, he scrambled for something to say, the first thing that came to mind.

“Raihan wants to ask you out to dinner after the tournament is over you know.” 

He fought the urge to bang his head against the wall behind him when he felt her startle slightly, shifting against the wall. 

“Okay.” He couldn’t pin the tone of her voice, but neither could he bring himself to open his eyes, desperate not to look and see horror or, worse, excitement and desire. 

There was another long silence, and—damnit, Gloria was _killing_ him with this silence that he seemed incapable of not filling with the stupidest thing that could possibly come out of his mouth. 

“I’m the champion.” 

“You… yes, you are.” She sounded a little amused now, and Leon wanted to lift his hands to rub at his face but he also didn’t want to lose the warmth of Gloria’s soft arm brushing his, so he just scrabbled for his words. 

“I mean—Raihan is a gym leader, so it’s different, but I kind of know, because I’m champion, but he’s very busy, his schedule is difficult, and he’s—old, I mean, older than you, by a lot.” 

He thought he heard a soft snort when he said ‘old’, but he couldn’t be sure. “Okay,” was all she said in response. 

“Doesn’t that bother you?” Leon said, eyes opening as he turned to look at her with incredulity. She seemed to be closer than he remembered, her face just inches from his now where they were both leaning back against the wall, and even though her voice had sounded amused she wasn’t smiling. In fact, she was looking at him with deadly seriousness, lips slightly parted and brows furrowed and eyes focused intently on him. He drew in a shaky breath and wondered if she’d just say ‘okay’ again.

“No.” 

He couldn’t look away from her, and he realized that somehow she’d managed to inch closer to him still, now the heat of her pressing a line against his side, and her face was that much closer to his, and her lips were so lush and pink, they looked so soft, and he knew his gaze had dropped and he was staring at her lips but he’d find the time to berate himself over that later. 

“But what if I didn’t want to go out to dinner with Raihan?” 

“Er… why not?” Leon said, barely focusing on her words as he noticed the way her eyes had gone half-lidded, and he could have sworn she was staring at his lips too, but it was probably just the angle, he had to be imagining things, and he should really pull back now—

“Can I kiss you, Leon?” 

Oh. 

It took his brain a moment to catch up with what he’d heard, and suddenly his heart was galloping in his throat, and he tried to say no, to tell her he was too old and the Champion and her best friend’s brother and a litany of other reasons why this was a terrible idea, but instead he just said “please” in a throaty, cracking voice, and then she was leaning up to meet his lips with her own. They were just as soft as he’d imagined, warm, and her hair was brushing his face and he barely even registered he was doing it when his hand came up to cup her neck, brushing a long finger against the line of her throat, but she made a contented noise, and he felt her shiver, and then she was opening her mouth, pressing more firmly against him and—oh, hell, they were snogging now, well and truly snogging, the brush of her tongue against his set his veins on fire, and Leon wasn’t sure if he was getting lightheaded from the lack of air or just from the kiss itself. Finally Gloria drew back slightly, panting slightly, and he wondered if this was the end—which would definitely have still been worth it, so worth it—when, with a slightly wild look in her eye, she leaned up from the wall and swung herself around so that now she was, _fucking hell_ , she was straddling him, and her lips were back on his, and Leon barely recognized that it was even him who growled as he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, pulling her closer as their kisses grew more heated, open-mouthed and desperate. Gloria, with a sudden whine, relaxed from where she’d been holding herself just slightly above him, melted into him until her body was pressed entirely against his, warm and soft. He realized that he was achingly hard in his sweatpants at the exact moment that Gloria leaned forward slightly, pressed against him with a little gasp that sent his pulse skyrocketing, and then ground down against him with a soft moan. His other hand shot up to splay against her waist, clenching slightly at the soft fabric of her shirt when he did it again. She shivered at the contact and arched her back, and he groaned at the clear invitation. 

“Leon,” she pleaded, and he knew it was a bad idea but she whined so sweetly, even as she ground against him again, taking his breath away, and so he let his hand trail up her torso, skating over her ribcage until he found the swell of her breast—fuck, it was perfect, a perfect handful, soft and warm and he groaned into her mouth while she moaned against him, pushing into his hand, writhing, and this was quickly escalating but Leon was afraid that if he stopped he would wake up and this would just be another early morning of sticky sheets and gauzy half-memories of dream-Gloria against him. His thumb found her nipple through the fabric of her shirt and she arched into it with a breathy gasp that seemed to make him impossibly harder, and he bucked up against her helplessly. She paused for the barest heartbeat of a moment, and then began to grind and press against him with what felt like deliberate rhythm. Leon groaned, his hands instinctively dropping to her hips to move with her and guide her, and he realized with a flash of heat and shock that he was actually getting close, tension building in the base of his spine just from this, but he was distracted when Gloria, leaning back slightly, took one of her hands off his shoulder to grab his wrist and move his hand around her hip, over the curve of her ass and up under her skirt. He choked out a sudden groan, his grip tightening as she pressed back against him, until she leaned forward to half-moan into his ear—“Please, Leon, I’m—I want— _please_ —” 

Breathless, and absolutely certain he was playing with fire but too far gone to care, Leon slid his hand reverently under the line of Gloria’s underwear—“yes, I’ve got you, Gloria, babe, I’ve got you, yesss” sliding into a strangled swear whispered against the line of Gloria’s neck as his fingers slid between her legs to find her her warm and slick and pressing back against him. “Are you—are you sure?” he asked, suddenly hesitant even while his blood was burning, but Gloria seemed to understand his hesitation, pushing back so she can look him in the eye when she nods, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips that swiftly turns open-mouthed and desperate as he slowly pushes a finger inside of her. She was so tight he was already seeing stars, other arm wrapping around her so that he could move them in just the right rhythm, at just the right angle both inside of her and against him that he was gasping for breath, electricity sharpening and sparking underneath his skin, and the little noises that Gloria was making against his mouth, his neck, were going to _ruin_ him, were going to haunt his dreams, but they were so sweet that he focused on keeping her making them, concentrated and slipped a second finger inside of her right as he turned and curled them against her and gave a particularly short sharp thrust up, and then she was unmistakably coming against him, thighs clenched tight around him as she moaned his name over several broken syllables— _Leee-onnnnn_ —that sent shivers arcing down his spine. 

For a moment there was nothing but the warmth of a sated Gloria slumped against him, and then, when she shifted slightly and Leon grunted as he choked off a sharp groan at the movement against his cock, still hard and trapped beneath his sweatpants, aching, she leaned back and moved her hand towards his waistband. Even the brush of her hand against him over the fabric had him panting and his back arching, and he realized how close he really was to coming in his pants like a teenager—and then, suddenly, the vignette of Gloria, eyes wide and wearing the shirt she’d left Postwick in, her small hand reaching for the obscene line of his erection against his sweatpants, the little damp patch near the head, and the visceral reminder of that word clanging around in his head— _teenager, that’s what she actually was, not a joke but actually a teenager_ —sent a jolt of electric ice cold fear and shame through him, and he grabbed her wrist just before she could begin to peel down his sweatpants. 

“Wait, Gloria, I—” He realized that the hand he’d used to grab her wrist was the hand that been inside of her, fingers still shimmering in the starlight and reflected cityscape from where they were wet with her slick, and he felt another roiling rush of guilt. “I—this was a mistake, I’m—you’re so young, fuck.” 

Gloria paused, some of the dazed contentedness of her orgasm sliding off of her as her eyes grew sharp.

“I’m not that young. And besides—I wanted this. I started this.” 

“No, just—shit!” He let go of her wrist to run his hands desperately through his hair, tightening into fists as he tried to focus, tried to make her _see_. “I’m—I’m the Champion—” The look she gave him was withering, and he felt his gut turn leaden at the thought that she thought less of him, that he’d ruined everything already—“and I’m supposed to… I’m supposed to protect you, and mentor you, and take care of you, not fucking finger you on a bloody roof!” 

He shut his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall behind him with a thunk. He felt Gloria stand up and step away from him, her absence made visceral by the sudden chill where her body heat had been moments before, and he opened his eyes to find her staring down at him with an inscrutable expression.

“I think understand you now,” she said finally, and Leon wanted to scream _finally_ , but she wasn’t done. “And now that I see—well… Leon, will you promise me something, champion to challenger?”

And she had him—champion to challenger, he felt so stupid and ashamed and like he’d taken advantage of her and he just wanted her to look at him with that soft admiration again, like she had when he’d taken the Sobble or in Piers’ gym, so he said—“yes, anything, I promise.” 

And then, like every idiot trainer who’d underestimated her before, he watched with sudden horror as she got that tight little smile on her face, the one when she knew was about to win in some spectacularly decisive fashion. 

“If I—no, _when_ I beat you, and _I_ become Champion, you’ll take me out to dinner, Leon.” 

“Wait—” he said, but she was already turning towards the door that led back inside.

“Ah,” she tutted softly, looking over her shoulder. “You promised. And besides, then _I’ll_ be _your_ Champion.” And she disappeared down the shadows of the staircase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gold stars to everyone who guessed that gloria would make the first move, since leon is an oblivious himbo.


	4. by your side in a quiet roar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops this one is mostly just ~feels.
> 
> mild spoilers for the end of the game, though I kept it pretty vague.

Leon didn’t know whether he counted himself lucky or cursed to wind up sitting between Raihan and Piers for the semifinals. 

While on the one hand he actually liked them both, and neither of them were the Chairman or his terrifying assistant Oleana, between the family connections he and Piers shared with the challengers and Raihan’s general popularity, the cameras circling the stadium were on them nearly as often as they were on the challengers. Which was maybe why Raihan had to wait until the crowd and cameras’ attention was entirely focused on Marnie and Gloria, shaking hands primly before leaning in for a friendly hug after Gloria’s win, before he turned to Leon to hiss under his breath, “Mate, listen, I know that Gloria’s up against Hop next, and Hop’s your little brother and you’ve got this thing for Gloria, but you need to _get it together_ , because we’re on camera.” 

Leon felt the blood rush to his face, heating unnaturally, even as he forced himself to stop fidgeting and tapping his foot against the ground to turn to look at a spot just over Raihan’s shoulder, unable to meet his friend’s eye. “What do you mean—a thing for Gloria?” he said in what he hoped wasn’t too defensive a tone, but from the look on Raihan’s face, he had miscalculated. 

“You have the subtlety of a Snorlax, Lee.” Raihan’s expression was somewhere between mischievous and exasperated. 

“I don’t know what—I don’t—” Leon protested feebly, even as Raihan clamped a hand on his arm and forced them both to turn and give a broad smile to the cameras that circled past. 

“We’re your _friends_ , Lee, give us a break. But you look like you’re about to vibrate right out of your own skin, you’re so tense. This is new—and a bad time. Like, a _really_ bad time.” 

Leon sighed, tugging the rim of his cap down in a pathetic attempt to hide his face and his shame, because Raihan was, of course, correct. Watching Hop’s match had gone well enough—even with last night’s events weighing heavy on his mind, he had been able to force himself to focus on Hop, noting and admiring how far his brother had come. But the moment Gloria had taken to the field, it had all gone to shit. He was—as Raihan had helpfully pointed out—nearly physically shaking with tension. Nervous tension, sexual tension, competitive tension, all there swirling inside of Leon until he felt like he couldn’t breathe with it. Watching Gloria battle live would have been a struggle even before last night, but now—he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, barely even to watch her Pokemon. It wasn’t like he needed to—there was almost no friction between trainer and Pokemon with Gloria, her Pokemon reacting to her commands so quickly it was like they anticipated them, strategy seamless. He’d felt a familiar zip of electric tension coiling in his gut, heavy heat helped by the fact that he couldn’t stop remembering the feel of her grinding on top of him, the taste of her mouth against his, the sounds she’d made—and then he was halfway to hard sitting in Wyndon Stadium with like a million viewers watching at home, and so he’d gritted his teeth and tried to think about anything else—first, about the fact that he still had no idea what he’d do if he actually had to battle her himself, either about his _problem_ or about her strategy, and then, when that line of thinking just led him down the path of how good Gloria was, how fierce and strategic, that she might actually _win_ , which just made the heat kindling in his gut burn hotter, or, worse, about what he’d do if he couldn’t beat her, and the promise he’d made her the night before, and what she might be expecting, might be _wanting_ from that dinner—and then he was even worse than he’d started. 

Which was when he’d begun tapping his foot furiously while he tried to focus on Marnie and list the entire Pokedex backwards. He obviously hadn’t been subtle. 

Raihan elbowed him none-too-gently, cleared tired of Leon’s stalling. “C’mon, mate. What’s up with you today?” 

Gritting his teeth, Leon finally let the words slip out of his mouth. “I… kissed her. We kissed. Last night.” 

There was what felt like a monumental silence, during which Leon couldn’t bring himself to look at the inevitable judgment on Raihan’s face, and then he heard—not judgment, but excitement, he could _hear_ the cheeky grin on Raihan’s face as he said, “You… cheeky thing, you. So what’s the problem then? Why aren’t you happier?”

Leon looked up, chancing a glance around to confirm that the crowd was still in the lull between matches, chatting amongst themselves and no one looking at him before he leaned closer to Raihan. 

“It’s… I… I fucked up, Raihan.” He could hear the hoarseness in his voice— _good_ , he thought, he should sound like shit after he’d taken advantage of a girl who looked up to him and saw him as a hero, and then had made her that stupid promise. He didn’t know which would make him a worse person, breaking the promise or going through with it. 

The pain in his voice must have come through because Raihan’s expression fell into seriousness. “What did you do, Lee?” 

Leon closed his eyes again, unable to look as he said, so softly he could barely be heard, “We were kissing, and then we kept kissing, and its got heated and… She wanted me to… I… to _touch_ her. And I did. And then I realized she was a bloody _teenager_ and I stopped it. But she was mad, and then she made me… I mean, I promised… well, really she tricked me into promising that if she beat me, I’d take her out to dinner. Well, she said when she beat me, but. And not just take her out to dinner, but _take her out to dinner_ , you know?” 

Raihan was silent for a moment, during which Leon somehow found a way to sink even lower in his stadium seat, trying desperately to make his body as small as he felt in that moment internally, dirty and ashamed and stupid. When Raihan had been quiet for much too long, Leon looked up to see an expression that had grown familiar to Leon over the years—Raihan was struggling between staying serious and saying something stupid. 

Seriousness appeared to win, as Raihan pulled something back in the expression of his face and met Leon’s eyes. “So… what part of that story do you think you fucked up?” 

“Huh?” 

Leon felt a creeping heat flush up his neck and face, realizing how dumb he sounded but—had Raihan been missing the part where he said he’d let things go too far with a teenager? And then promised to her a date?

Raihan leaned forward, brow furrowing slightly. “Lee… Are you upset because you think you messed things up with Gloria?” 

_Finally_ , Leon thought desperately. “Yes, exactly! She won’t ever look at me the same way again.” 

“Because you…” Raihan said, looking at Leon expectantly.

“Because I took advantage of her!” Leon hissed from between teeth clenched tight, leaning close to Raihan even though there was no chance that anyone would overhear them over the chattering of the crowd, growing to a fever pitch as Gloria and Hop got ready to take the stage. “Because she was nervous about her match today and she needed someone to talk to and to encourage her, not someone to get caught up in the moment and finger her on a stupid roof the night before semifinals.” 

Raihan sat back, giving Leon an appraising look, and Leon waited for the inevitable disappointment to break across his face. 

Instead, Raihan just shook his head, laughing softly to himself, as he said, “Leon, you are an absolute idiot.” 

And then he turned to watch the match, and Leon was forced to sit through the match between Gloria and Hop, smiling for the crowds even as his insides were a twist of hope and fear and shame and desire.

*

This was all his fault. 

He gritted his teeth against the waves of pulsing energy emanating from the giant Pokemon unfurled above him in the sky, clenched his jaw when he heard his Charizard give a grunt of pain as she bore the brunt of the attack. 

If he hadn’t been so focused on himself yesterday, on his stupid crush on Gloria and how much he wanted her to beat him and go to dinner with her, on his worry about meeting her and Hop for dinner again that evening, about wondering if he should go back to the roof, about any of it—he could have paid more attention to the Chairman, understood exactly how close to the edge the man was, or at least have done a better job of dissuading his concerns. 

Instead, he’d waved the man off, bristling instinctively every time Rose mentioned calling off the tournament, because he could barely pay attention to the look of rage on the man in front of him’s face when he was too busy thinking about the fact that Gloria might think he’d done something so stupid as to call off the tournament because of _her_ , because he was afraid to fight her or worse. 

Which was how we’d wound up here, swearing and pulling out another max potion from his bag. They’d been battling this creature for what felt like hours, wearing it down with blast after powerful blast, and Leon thought it was finally starting to look weakened, its movement slowed, more time in between its attacks. He was starting to feel something like relief when he heard noise behind him. He turned around and felt his heart catch in his throat, his stomach pitching and rolling with nauseous fear, because that was _Hop and Gloria_ scrambling towards him. No, no, no, they couldn’t be here, couldn’t be in danger like this, and he heard his Charizard give a low growl as she flung another powerful stream of fire at the writhing Pokemon in the sky. 

“Lee! We came to help,” Hop yelled, lanky legs bringing him almost to Leon’s position, and Leon flung his arm out to stop them. 

It had to be now—he thought it was close enough, but if he could just catch this now then Hop and Gloria would be safe, and that was the thought that filled his head as he reached for a Pokeball and, focusing intently, threw it at the Pokemon. 

He felt confident they were all holding their breath, watching as the Pokemon rolled and flashed, once, juddered, rolled again, shook, more violently this time, paused, and—Leon realized what the light just beginning to flash was moments before anyone else did, and he didn’t even have to speak, just flung his arm behind him and watched as his Charizard sheltered Hop and Gloria with her wings as the the Pokemon burst free in a wave of pulsing, poisonous energy that sent him flying backwards, until he felt his head thump against a piece of stone and the world begin to go faint and sway. 

He tried to sit up, felt a wave of nausea, and gasped, relieved to hear Hop’s voice close to him. “Lee!” 

“Hop…” he murmured, turning his head and trying desperately to keep his eyes open, struggling to stand up even though his limbs felt simultaneously wobbly and leaden. “Run… gotta… go. Not safe. Eternatus.” 

“Hey, Lee, you gotta stop trying to move, okay? Just lay back, I’ve got you, and Gloria’s got whatever that thing is,” Hop said, voice shaky with fear but still so unreasonably optimistic, so perfectly Hop, but what penetrated Leon’s brain was a thin pulse of cold fear when he understood that Hop had said Gloria was fighting Eternatus. With a pained wheeze, he wrenched his head to the side and fought to open his eyes, saw Gloria silhouetted against the whirling clouds, the wind whipping her hair behind her, shouting out instructions to her Cinderace, which was nimbly darting across the tower, whipping fire at the Pokemon in the sky. 

“Dragon,” Leon said, reaching out to grab Hop’s arm, “Poison.” 

“Dragon poison?” Hop said, confused, and Leon gripped Hop’s arm more tightly, wanting nothing more than to be able to give Hop the frustrated glare he always did when Hop was being an idiot. “Oh! Dragon poison! Poison dragon! Type! Gloria—Gloria, it’s poison and dragon!” 

Gloria paused battling to look back at them, something in her face softening and her eyes widening as she took in the sight of Leon laying on the ground, before she squared her shoulders and turned back to the Pokemon in front of her. Leon closed his eyes just as he heard a familiar cry, felt the ground quake beneath him at what must have been a steady stream of ground attacks from Gloria, and then slipped into darkness. 

He thought he was dreaming—he opened his eyes to see Sonia’s face swimming before him, shaking him, his head lolling to the side and—there was Gloria, still battling, this time with a towering Haxorus that was laying into the legendary Pokemon with blistering dragon type attacks that Leon could feel from here, and, oh no, there was Hop, as well, and—Leon knew he must have been hallucinating, because he could have sworn he heard a faint cry he remembered from the Slumbering Weald, and saw a giant, battered dog Pokemon dart forward and slash with a gleaming sword—and then it was all darkness again.

*

Minutes or hours or maybe days later, he opened his eyes and realized he was laying in a bed against cool white sheets, surrounded by the hum and beep of medical equipment. Something stirred next to him, and he turned to see armchairs arranged close to the bed, one filled with a tangled mess of Hop, limbs askew and head thrown back as he snored, and the other—with Gloria, who had just scooted closer and was looking at him intently now. 

“Did we—” Leon started, voice hoarse from disuse, and then coughed and tried again. “Gloria, did we…?” 

He thought he knew the answer to the question, figured if they’d lost half of the Galar region would be destroyed by now, and he certainly wouldn’t be sitting here healing with Hop and Gloria at his side, but he needed to hear it from her, to see her nod and smile. 

“We did,” she said, and reached to her waist to hold up a Pokeball. He breathed in sharply at the implication, and fought through some lingering dizziness to give her a grin. 

“I weakened it for you,” he said teasingly, ending on a slight cough, and watched with some trepidation as Gloria leaned over the bed, hand hesitating at the edge of the sheets as she stared down at him with a look on her face he couldn’t quite understand. 

“You did,” she said, and she sounded much more serious than he’d expected. “We couldn’t have done it without you, Lee, and I—I’m so sorry you got hurt. We shouldn’t have let you go alone.” 

Leon watched her eyes drop and her face darken and instinctively reached out to wrap his hand around her own. Gloria’s eyes shot up to meet his and he gave her a reassuring squeeze that seemed to clear some of the guilt off of her face. God, what a familiar look, one he’d seen haunt his face in private for months and months, though to see it on Gloria was surprising—guilt. He didn’t feel as guilty, though, not anymore. In fact, he felt like he was thinking more clearly than he had in ages. Maybe it was the painkillers they were giving him, or maybe it was the feeling of Gloria’s hand in his, but he felt so _certain_ of his next words.

“ _I_ shouldn’t have gone alone. It’s not your fault. I should have—I should have trusted you guys to help. Trusted that you could handle yourself. Guess you wound up being my champion in the end, huh?” 

Gloria squeezed his hand at that, and the look she gave him was like the look she’d given him in Postwick over the Sobble, or on the roof when he’d helped her get over her nerves, warm and earnest and smiling, but better, a million times better, because this time Leon knew he hadn’t fucked it up at all, he’d touched her on the roof and then he’d pushed her away and then he’d nearly managed to fail to avert a world-ending disaster and she was still looking at him like that and holding his hand. She was _holding his hand_ and Leon was definitely still a little high on the painkillers because it felt like the best thing in the world. 

“Hey Gloria…” he began, watching as she met his gaze, “can I kiss you?” 

She didn’t bother to answer, just breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned down to press her lips against his—hard, at first, like she’d been waiting since maybe the minute they’d last stopped kissing, and then suddenly pulling back. At first he thought she meant to pull away, but her other hand had come to run across his forehead and she’d been back to kiss him, so soft and gentle, the thumb of her hand tucked into his rubbing against his palm, and he realized that maybe she’d remembered he was laying in a hospital bed, and he huffed out a soft laugh against her lips before deepening the kiss, nothing like the desperate and heady way it had been on the roof, but just slow, steady, losing himself in the feeling of her soft lips and her strong hand against his face and the fact that he felt _safe_ and happy and content, like a weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying all on his own was lessened—not gone, but… shared—and he was tugging her closer to him, suddenly needing her to be tucked against him, to wrap himself around her and breathe her in and kiss her in the moonlight until the sun came up and—and then a particularly loud snore from Hop had them jumping apart. 

Gloria left her hand in his, though, he realized with a particularly warm thump of his heart. 

When he looked up at her, Gloria was still smiling, looking a little dazed and definitely flushed a deep red, and Leon felt a little reckless when he looked up at her. 

“Gloria.” 

She turned her attention back to him, and he felt another swell of affection that he was only just starting to understand what he might want to do with. 

“When you beat me, I’m going to take you out to dinner.” 

The smile that broke across her face was the biggest he’d seen yet.


End file.
